The Kite Runner is being marketed as not just the first novel by its author, Khaled Hosseini, a medical doctor, but the first novel of its kind: an Afghan novel written in English. That, however, is the least of the achievements of this accomplished if not quite flawless debut work which has been hailed as “a haunting morality tale” and “a stirring tale of loyalty and betrayal.” Despite being occasionally melodramatic and overly symmetrical, The Kite Runner is a modestly told, quietly ambitious, story of its narrator- protagonist’s journey from his rather comfortable life in Kabul in the 1970’s to his and his father’s fleeing the country in 1981 and beginning life anew as struggling immigrants in Fremont, California, and, following marriage and the publication of his own first novel, his fateful return to Taliban-run Afghanistan in 2001, where he will atone for a past wrong.

The story begins where Arundhati Roy’s 1997 Booker Prize-wining novel, The God of Small Things, ends: with a betrayal. Amir has a rather difficult relationship with his father, a successful businessman and social progressive, an imposing man who builds an orphanage but who finds his son weak. Amir is weak, and not just physically in a patriarchal culture that prizes manly competition. His weakness takes a terrifying turn in his dealings with Hassan, the devoted servant who is also his friend. Opposites in certain ways (Amir is a privileged Pastun, Hassan one of the despised minority Hazaras), they are virtually identical in others, most obviously in age and in having nursed at the same breast (following the death of Amir’s mother and the disappearance of Hassan’s).

Hosseini successfully sketches not just his characters and their complex social situation, but more importantly the psycho-pathology of their relationship: the petty cruelties that privilege invites, the risk of these escalating into betrayals with far-reaching consequences, and the way loving devotion can become masochistic submission. Hosseini proves especially adept in placing Amir’s story in the larger Afghan context and in making each an allegory of the other. And while his taking his story just past September 11, 2001, seems forced, more an editorial decision than an authorial choice, subsequent events make The Kite Runner not only more timely but more necessary as American interest shifts from Afghanistan to Iraq.

Review Sources

Kirkus Reviews 71, no. 9 (May 1, 2003): 630.

Library Journal 128, no. 19 (November 15, 2003): 114.

Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2003, p. E6.

The New York Times Book Review, August 3, 2003, p. 4.

People 60, no. 2 (July 14, 2003): 47.

Publishers Weekly 250, no.19 (May 12, 2003): 43.

San Francisco Chronicle, June 8, 2003, p. M1.

The Times Literary Supplement, October 10, 2003, p. 25.

USA Today, May 22, 2003, p. D6.

The Washington Post Book World, July 6, 2003, p. 3.

Identity and Self-Discovery

Throughout the novel, the protagonist grapples with finding his true purpose and forming an identity through noble deeds. Amir's inability to support his friend during a pivotal moment defines this central conflict. His struggle to overcome his own shortcomings is evident in his fear of Assef, his reluctance to enter a war-torn nation controlled by the oppressive Taliban, and even his carsickness while traveling with Farid into Afghanistan. Later in the story, Amir uncovers his father's lifelong secret about his half-brother Hassan, leading to a deeper comprehension of his father's character and how both he and his father betrayed those who were loyal to them.

Family, Fathers, and Fatherhood

In a novel where family relationships are crucial, the absence of mothers is striking. Although Soraya becomes a loving mother to Sohrab, both Amir and Hassan grow up without their mothers. The tension in father-son relationships is highlighted by Baba's treatment of his sons, Amir and Hassan. Baba is disappointed with Amir's bookish and introverted nature, and to maintain his social status, he does not publicly acknowledge his illegitimate son Hassan, whose mother is a Hazara. Similarly, General Taheri is a traditional and highly critical father who struggles with his grown daughter's occasional rebelliousness. The theme resurfaces in Amir and Soraya's marriage, as they unsuccessfully attempt to start their own family. Their adoption of the troubled and orphaned Sohrab at the novel's end represents an effort to create a complete family founded on love and honesty.

Journey and Quest

A story of immigration and political turmoil, The Kite Runner is marked by Amir's departure from Afghanistan as a teenager and his return to his devastated homeland as an adult. Simultaneously, it is a tale of a symbolic quest. Amir makes significant sacrifices to atone for past wrongs by rescuing his half-nephew. The theme of sacrifice is symbolized by the bleeding fingers of kite fighters who cut their opponents' kites with glass-embedded string. Early in the novel, Amir willingly cuts his fingers to win his father's approval through a kite-fighting triumph; by the end, he cuts his fingers flying a kite to lift his emotionally scarred nephew from deep depression. While young Amir compares Hassan's submission to his attackers to a sacrificial animal, by the novel's conclusion, Amir is ready to sacrifice much to save Hassan's son from a similar fate.

Heritage and Ancestry

Before departing Afghanistan, Baba fills a snuff box with soil from his homeland. As refugees in the United States, Baba and Amir settle in an Afghan immigrant community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although much of the story unfolds in the United States, most of the characters are Afghan, highlighting how Amir and Baba prosper and contribute to an immigrant community reminiscent of their homeland. Despite Baba passing away without ever revisiting his home country, Amir continues his connection to the Afghan community in Northern California, partly through his wife's family. Descriptions of Amir and Soraya's courtship and Baba's funeral illustrate these ties to traditional cultural values. Readers are given detailed accounts of the khastegari tradition, where the groom's father asks for the bride's father's permission, and the elaborate traditional ceremony in which Amir and Soraya are wed. Although Amir initially sees living in the United States as a means to escape a painful past, he sustains and revives his connections to Afghan culture and religion. He returns to his birthplace, and after his nephew's suicide attempt, he re-discovers Islam as a source of strength. The narration and dialogue invite

the reader into this ethnic Pashtun and Afghan national identity through continuous translations of frequently spoken or culturally significant phrases and concepts.

Assimilation and Acculturation

From the early twentieth century to modern times, new arrivals in the United States have lived and worked in their new homeland, striving for better lives while struggling to adapt to a culture that may or may not accept their traditions. When Amir and Baba arrive in Fremont, California, they too must start anew. While Baba takes a modest job at a service station, Amir attends school, graduating from high school at the age of twenty. While Baba, like General Taheri, a man of his generation, dreams of returning to a peaceful Afghanistan, Amir, who has spent much of his teenage years in the United States, adjusts more easily to his new country. For Amir, as for many in American immigrant literature, the United States symbolizes a chance for new beginnings and a way to leave behind a violent past. For Baba, the transition is more challenging, and his new life starkly contrasts with his former status of power and prestige in Kabul.

Political Power/Abuse of Power

The novel's events unfold against a backdrop of political upheaval, culminating in the emergence of the oppressive Taliban regime in modern-day Afghanistan. Assef, the bully who assaults Hassan and later becomes a prominent Taliban official, symbolizes the perils of wielding power for its own sake, as well as the Taliban's violence and repression. Assef is a sociopath who flourishes in an environment marked by chaos and subjugation. Interpersonal violence causes the rift between Amir and Hassan, while on a national level, the Soviet-backed Communist regime's abuse of power forces Baba and Amir into exile.

The misuse of political and social power is also evident in the frequent references to the Hazara people, who are treated as second-class citizens within Afghanistan's quasi-caste system. At the novel's outset, Hazara characters like Hassan's father, Ali, endure public humiliation due to their appearance. When General Taheri questions Amir and Soraya's decision to adopt Sohrab, "a Hazara boy," he reflects the widespread discrimination against this ethnic minority. This prejudice is further emphasized when he criticizes Amir for having a Hazara boy as a playmate. In a way, even Baba perpetuates this systemic discrimination by refusing to acknowledge his son with a Hazara woman, Sanaubar.